Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.

Butter a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter and granulated sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in eggs until combined. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and poppy seeds and mix until just combined.

Transfer batter to cake pan, smoothing top, and bake until a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean and top is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then invert onto rack.

Whisk together confectioners sugar and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth. Pour glaze over warm cake, spreading it with a spatula to drizzle over edge. Let stand until glaze is set, about 15 minutes.

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Reviews

I don't know how anyone could say anything negative about this recipe. It is perfect as-is. Yes, it is a lot of butter, but it works so well in this cake. I find it to be the perfect balance of butter, sweetness and lemon. I find an occasion to make this at least once or twice a year. It's a lovely treat.

It's my birthday tomorrow and this is the cake that I must have. I've made it ~ 4-5 times. The reviews helped me adjust the recipe ...1) one stick of butter makes for a moist cake (I've never made it with 2) and 2) I triple the amount of lemon zest and lemon juice. Addictive.

Well When I first looked at the ingredients I knew to much butter not enough flavo,r but I made it to see maybe I was wrong .No I wasn't...Never make this cake again I will not suggest anyone to make it . cholesterol.....I would have been better making my own.Waste alot of ingredients. Now is asking me to rate OK 1---

Disappointing. Lemon poppy seed should be fairly easy. Not lemony enough. Not bad, but not dazzling either. Not sure how it gets the 4 rating. As other reviewers have noted, more lemon in the batter, please.

I made this cake in a non-stick loaf pan. After 40 minutes it was no where near done in the center at 375 degrees, I reduced the heat to 325 and left it for another 40 minutes- the center cooked perfectly and the edges didn't burn but were nice and crisp and rich brown. The batter is very thick but rises well and leaves nice little edges to hold the icing on top. The cake is not lemony, but the icing certainly is and the contrast is very pleasant with a proper cup of tea. I think people may be expecting that oily lemon extract flavoring taste that we've all grown accustomed to in commercial mixes. This cake is a no-brainer, I'd make it again.

I made this into a loaf - I didn't change anything except up the lemon zest to 1 Tbsp and add the juice of 1 lemon and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract. I was also worried about the cake sticking to the pan like other reviewers noted so I buttered and floured the loaf pan. At 40 minutes it looked done and the toothpick came out clean, but it ended up sinking and when I cut into it after it was totally cool, it was pretty underdone. The taste is really great however, a nice lemon flavor. I would maybe add one more tsp of lemon zest, but I will definitely try this cake again as a loaf.

This was fine - I made them into 12 muffins (baked slightly less than 30 min,) and didn't find they were dry at all, I just wasn't that impressed with the balance of lemon. The cake itself isn't really lemony at all, and the glaze is too sharp. If I made it again I'd thin the glaze with half water/half lemon juice, and add some lemon juice into the batter.

Yum! This was great - we added colorful non-pareil sprinkles to make it a birthday cake for my 4 year old. Made for nice crunches, between the sprinkles and the poppy seeds you couldn't tell what was what. So easy and delicious. I am making another one today for party #2.

simple, quick and delicious. Baked it in a 9 inch springform pan and omitted the poppy seeds. Let it cool for 5 minutes, poked holes with toothpick over the cake and poured glaze on the cake while still in the springform.

This is the second time I've made this little cake. It's a really great recipe. The batter is really thick-but don't worry it rises beautifully. The only things I will do differently next time is add a little bit of flour to the pan, because mine did stick to the pan and broke in half as I got it out. Plus, the glaze needs about an additional TBS of lemon juice so that's spreadable. It's very thick

I thought this turned out great. I more or less followed the recipe, I used the zest of a whole lemon since I love lemon and all the butter called for. The flavor was great, very moist and with a nice crumb. I used more lemon juice and less powdered sugar than called for in the glaze as some reviewers suggested but I think next time I'll just stick with the recipe. I was hoping for a shiny white glaze and mine soaked into the cake more than I would have liked. Tasted great tho! I also made 3 small springform pans instead of one pan but it still took 30 mins at 375. Yum! And easy and quick enough to make after work.

Growing up my mom would always make lemon poppyseed cake but it was from a box and I wanted to try it from scratch so I choose this recipe, and I am very happy with the results. I used about 1 and a half teaspoons lemon zest and also added about a tablespoon of lemon juice to the wet ingredients took enhance the lemon flavor. Per another reviewer's suggestion on cutting down on the butter, I sub-ed one stick of butter with a 1/2 cup of applesauce. I think that this helped mask the intense butter flavor that other reviewers had complained about. Also, when making the icing I added about another tablespoon of lemon juice because it was not thinning out enough. With these changes the cake came out lighter than I had expected which in my opinion complimented the lemon flvaor that I was going for. As a testament to it's "yumminess", my mom ate literally 1/4 of the cake and has asked me to make it again.

This is a quick torte that I tweaked
slightly to achieve a very tasty
confection. Reduce butter to 1 1/2
sticks, increase lemon zest to 3-4
teasp, add 1 cup lemon juice to
batter and bake no more than 25
minutes. I added 1 cup lemon juice
to the confection sugar and it made
a moist cover for the torte. End
result very lemony, very European
and very delicious

I've made this cake a few times, and I love the flavor but last time I made it, it was so dry that it was nearly inedible. I don't know if that has to do with cooking time or ingredients -- any suggestions?

Concerning the butter-related comments: I suggest swapping 1 stick for 1/4 cup of applesauce. You can't taste it at all and it keeps the cake from drying out while cutting out a ton of fat and calories!

I followed the recipe (I have no problem with butter!) and it is not a typical cake batter -- nearly the consistency of cookie dough. It's an absolutely delicious cake, so I'm giving it four forks despite the fact that, although I buttered the 9-inch cake pan pretty generously, the bottom broke off when I took it out of the pan. Next time I'll butter AND flour the pan and hope that works.

I made this exactly as written (with all of the butter) and it came out perfectly. The only thing I did was but back on the baking time, and thank goodness! The cake was done after 22 minutes. Light and perfectly moist! Yum.

I generally make recipes exactly as
written the first time to get a base
line before I play with reviewers
recommended modifications, but
because of the butter controversy I
tasted the batter first. It was very
buttery and not so lemon-y. So I
added half again all the other
ingredients,except butter and tossed
in the juice of a whole lemon (will
add even more next time)and made
muffins. The yield was 12 full sized
muffins and they were yummy. Nor did
I have any dried out issues. I have
a muffin pan that looks like a
flower and you don't need to grease
it at all with this recipe. Enjoy.